WHO WILL SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER? (2)

There is not much that a Coalition for Nigeria Movement can achieve under the flawed 1999 Constitution, argues Uma O. Eleazu

The 1999 Constitution was really an outgrowth of the Abacha constitutional conference of 1987/88. If he had not dropped dead the way he did, he would have decreed it into being and become the President for life. When he died, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar had a problem on his hand. What to do with Chief MKO Abiola who was waiting on the wings to actualise his mandate. Suddenly he too died. With both men out of the way, the retired generals came together to map the way forward. Abdulsalami formed a Constitutional Debate Coordinating Committee, with Prof Niki Tobi as Chairman. This writer was a member of this CDCC. We were then given the draft Abacha constitution, to go round the country and gather the views of the public on the draft. It was a diversionary exercise because almost all the reports from various sub-committees within the CDCC did not see the light of day. Abdulsalami and his cohorts simply doctored the Abacha draft and decreed into being. The jihadist group based in Sokoto University started planning on how to install one of them in Aso Rock. Partisan political activities started again. To cut a long story short, while we were trying to form political parties, the ex-generals met and decided to back one of them to run as a civilian. The lot fell on Obasanjo in order to appease the Yoruba nation for the death of their Aare Ona Kakanfo. The Yoruba nation was not consulted on the matter hence the frosty relationship between them and OBJ.

When therefore the Obasanjo administration came into being, his first problem was the confrontation with the jihadist group. Whatever amount of water passed under the bridge built by the ex-generals, we may never know, but all we know was that he allowed OR did not challenge the declaration of sharia in those 12 states of Northern Nigeria, as unconstitutional. That act in itself was ipso facto a repudiation of the 1999 Constitution which now reopened some old arguments (true federalism; fiscal federalism, resource control; self determination; confederation; secession, etc).

Buhari’s persistence in trying to become president was in pursuance of his islamist agenda. When he failed to win in 2011, first he said he was not going to try again; and being persuaded by his fellow leaders in Niger and Chad, he changed his mind and decided to run once more and probably for the last time. That was when he made the ominous statement that: “If what happened in 2011 should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and the baboon will all be soaked in blood” (Vanguard ,May 15, 2012)

Our neighbours to the north, particularly the Republic of Niger, helped to send their citizens to vote in Nigeria. Even underaged children were seen voting in Kano. The resident Electoral Commissioner in Kano who knew what happened, mysteriously died in a motor accident on his way to Abuja. Besides, the mercenaries who had been imported to help make dog and baboon blood flow, needed to be settled. With no job to return to, they simply were allowed to roam around in the country with or without cows. MYETI Allah was on hand to give them cover by employing them as herdsmen. We have it on the authority of the words of Nasir elRufai, Governor of Kaduna State, that the so-called Fulani herdsmen are not citizens of Nigeria, and that he gave (bribed) them money to go home. In course of time they have been joined by other roving bands of Fulanis and Tuaregs from Kadafi’s failed state. So what OBJ referred to as “herdsmen and crop farmers” is more than meets the eye. It is challenging the whole existence of the federation, and so the issue now is not just constitutional but restructuring the geopolitics of the area called Nigeria.

There are those Fulani herdsmen who are Nigerians by birth, who have been living side by side in the Middle Belt states of the North with their herds and for years have had little or occasional clashes with farmers. The damage caused on both sides is usually minimal. But the new type of Fulani herdsmen, carrying AK 47 and other dangerous weapons are not Nigerians (according to IGP Ibrahim Idris and some foreign intelligence); they invade at odd hours of the night, to kill, steal and to destroy without mercy. Theirs is not “clash”, it is invasion of parts of Nigeria. With all their bravado of python dance and crocodile smile, not one of these invaders has ever been caught and brought to book. No agency of government – DSS, Police CID, Military Intelligence, National Intelligence Agency, National Civil Defence, none of them knows how many non-Nigerians have invaded Nigeria, where they are, their mode of operation, not to talk of tracking them down. But let somebody mention “Biafra”! and all their fangs will protrude their jaws.

Looked at from his point of view, Buhari is achieving his goals for Nigeria and the Islamic world. To wit, his kitchen cabinet is made up of Muslims, mainly from Daura; the Armed Service Chiefs are all Muslims; Inspector General of Police, all DIGs in charge of zones are all Muslims from the North; all security agencies are headed by his kinsmen and muslims; if one goes to the South East Zone, from the DIG down to commissioners of police are 90% Hausa Fulani, most DPOs are from the North. The governors are just chief security officers of their states in name and the list goes on. The police in the south eastern states are there to protect the Fulani herdsmen and not the people.

There was this sad case of Ndokwa Youths who apprehended two of the “herdsmen” and dispossessed them of their guns. They took the two herdsmen to the police and tendered the guns as evidence; that the gunmen were the people who had been marauding the area. The police thanked them and took the herdsmen and their guns into custody. The next day, the police went and arrested the president of the Ndokwa Youths and charged him of stealing and illegal possession of firearms. The herdsmen were left to go scot free. This is the kind of country Buhari has given us.

OBJ says PMB does not know how to play in foreign affairs? He has visited Morocco, and the Niger Republic. In fact, immediately he was declared winner of the 2015 election, he visited Niger Republic where he was given a triumphal welcome and was presented with a horse and a sword. Very symbolic! Now he is asking the National Assembly for money from the excess crude account to extend the railway from Kano through Daura to Maradi in Niger, when the one from Port Harcourt to Enugu has not even left the drawing board. That is how much he loves Nigeria or may be it is a compensation for the 97% vote he claims he got. I will be surprised if Oga OBJ claims ignorance of these things. Now back to the fundamental issues: Coalition for Nigeria Movement; Nigerian Intervention Coalition; Third Force and 68 new political parties! Who will mid-wife emergence of a new Nigeria to achieve what? Is Nigeria moving to become a democratic state or a theocracy? Are we setting up a country where citizens will be equal before the law or where some citizens will be considered above the law? Listen again to someone who is president of Nigeria. During the cacophony of a debate over the declaration of sharia states in 2003, Buhari asked, “Why should Christians be concerned when Muslims cut off their limbs? After all the limbs that are being cut off are Muslim ones and not Christians. So why should Christians bother about it” (Liberty Radio, 2003; Kaduna)